My Story
In 1998 I was making a good living in Los Angeles as a motion picture camera assistant. For the first time in my life I had enough money to cover my expenses with enough left over to start seriously thinking about retirement, debt reduction and tax planning. I had heard about financial planners and began searching for someone to work with. During my search I found the same two types of planners sales people out for a commission rather then my best interest, or wealth managers who wanted me to accumulate a large portfolio on my own before they would work with me.

Feeling like I had no other choice I started educating myself. I learned about taxes, created a retirement plan, researched mutual funds, you name it. However; the more I learned the more I learned how much more there was to learn. By 1999 I reached the point where either I needed to turn everything over to a professional or become one myself. Already turned off by my search a year earlier and ready for some new challenges in my life I choose the later. I left the film business, went back to school and in 2003 opened Applied Advisor to work with the kind of person I was in 1998, middle-class working folks who need some unbiased guidance.

My Background
I graduated from Ohio University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science of Communications and earned my Personal Financial Planner certificate from the University of California Extension, Santa Cruz in 2002.

I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner and a C.T.E.C. Registered Tax Preparer.

Choosing a Financial Planner
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has several tools to assist in your search for a financial planner. I have provided two copies of the Checklist for Interviewing a Financial Planner. One copy is blank so that you may use it with other prospective planners while the other contains my answers.

The third document, Ten Questions to Ask a Financial Planner will help you understand what the answers to the questions in the checklist mean.